Now stranded Britons are offered loans to get home

But tourists are furious at delay as they face up to £8k for flight

BRITISH tourists who are stranded abroad will be offered emergency loans to help get them home, the Foreign Secretary said yesterday.

Dominic Raab admitted that financial assistance would be granted as ‘a last resort’ as holidaymakers around the world discovered their flights have been cancelled.

His intervention comes a day after he urged citizens to get home within 48 hours ‘while you still can’ or face being stranded overseas. That deadline expires tonight.

But tourists trapped across the globe believe the call to return home should have been made more than a week ago.

Thousands have carefully followed the advice put out by the FCO and airlines – only to discover that their flights have been abruptly cancelled.

Pensioners, pregnant women and young children are among the hordes of British tourists who are trying to find routes home from far-flung destinations.

One couple arrived at Auckland airport in New Zealand to discover their flight was cancelled – and were then offered replacement tickets on a flight in July. Flight prices have soared, with one airline selling seats at £8,000 each from Bali to London.

Some tourists are attempting to hire a Boeing 777 to get them home from New Zealand. But many others have little money left and are running out of crucial medicine. Speaking in the Commons yesterday, Mr

Raab said 80 countries have placed restrictions on borders in the past three days.

‘That situation is unprecedented in scale and our over-riding priority now is to assist the thousands of British travellers who need and want to return home,’ he said.

He added: ‘We are helping to reduce travel costs by encouraging airlines to have maximum flexibility on changing return tickets. Where people are in real need, our consular teams will work with them to consider their options and, as a last resort, we offer an emergency loan.’

Mr Raab said Britons stuck in Peru would be able to return home later this week after a discussion with the country’s foreign minister led to flights being laid on.

The FCO has doubled its capacity to answer calls and plans to double it again. It is also looking to find accommodation for those who cannot get a flight.

But stranded tourists yesterday said they have been unable to get through to FCO helplines and that British embassies have been either closed or unable to help.

Nicholas Isaac, who is in Auckland with his girlfriend, told the Mail: ‘The advice to come home is way, way too late.

‘Everyone said it’s a joke. If we were told a week or two weeks ago, then we could have made it.’ Mr Isaac, 29, from Surrey, said he and hundreds of others were even banned from entering the airport terminal.

And in Spain, several major airlines have no spare seats to bring UK passengers home this week. Consumer group Which? said travellers wanting to leave the country were unable to book flights with Ryanair, EasyJet or Jet2.

Sandra Will and her husband

Lewis were due to fly home with Ryanair from Alicante to Aberdeen on Thursday, but the flight was cancelled. They re-booked for Sunday, only for that flight to also be cancelled too.

Mrs Will said: ‘We are in our 70s and I have recently been released from a Spanish hospital after having a mini stroke, so this kind of stress does not help.’

‘This kind of stress does not help’